The Decoy
by Brucatul-grl
Summary: Kimi asks her best friend, Lil, to become a decoy to test her boyfriends loyalty. But when things don't go as expected, everyone gets more than what they bargained for...
1. Chapter 1

"Lil, I think he's cheating on me." Kimi blurted out after when they had finally settled in her room at the end of the day.

Lil hadn't moved to the city for a full 24 hours yet and she was already being pulled into Kimi's relationship drama. This was like déjà vu from high school all over again.

They had been childhood friends, and had been together all throughout their school career up until college hit. That's when Lil and Kimi had parted ways for the first time since they'd stepped into kindergarten together, and as much as they had tried to stay in touch daily, the distance definitely got to them and they went from daily contact, to weekly check ins, to monthly promises to meet up more often. It was only during holidays when they would both come back home to their little town would they really reconnect, because their respected colleges were hours away from each other. Living on campus you get engrossed in another world, in another group of friends and another social circle. Especially when you take a girl from a small town, growing up with the exact same crowd year after year… and then throw her into a world of new people and new drama. It definitely becomes hard to keep connected with your small town friends when you become completely entrapped in a new circle of a social world.

But it wasn't until their senior year at college when Kimi got the surprising call from Lil, telling her she was transferring to her college with not much of an explanation but that she wanted her best friend back and thought it would be awesome for them to live together for the year.

Lil never told her the real reason behind her transfer, and she didn't plan on revealing that to her anytime soon. Another reason why the transfer would be good for Lil was because her twin brother Phil also attended George Brown College –the same college as Kimi.

They were adamant on going to different colleges after high school because they mutually craved independence. To be a sole entity rather than being a part of a pair all their life… they needed to go to different colleges –different worlds, where people met them as individuals.

But for Lil, transferring to this college was her only option, because at this stage in her life… she craved comfort and security. What better way to achieve that than go live with her childhood best friend and her twin brother.

Lil zoned back into Kimi's current rant of her boyfriend –someone that Lil had never met.

"Trust me Lil, it's like an intuition that I have… I don't think he's faithful to me, I just don't feel that commitment you know."

Lil nodded as she unpacked her things in the apartment that Kimi and herhad gotten together for the school year. She hung her clothes in her closet and she saw as Kimi pulled out a dress and pressed it against herself in the mirror. She had forgotten the little things that had bugged her about Kimi, like her habit of wanting to share everything.

Lil sighed, "Why don't you just break up with him then?" she questioned, _if she feels so strongly that hes cheating on her, why would she want to be with him?! Obvious solution..._

Kimi sat down on Lil's bed, "Cause I really do want to be with him." she admitted, "I find him so attractive, such a charmer… he's perfect. He gives me butterflies just by looking at me, and the day he asked me out I was on cloud nine, I never imagined that he would've finally done it you know. Girls throw themselves at him shamelessly, and he didn't bat an eye at them at the beginning, but as time has gone on, I'm starting feel distance. And I'm convinced he's not loyal to me anymore, but I don't want to lose him if I'm just being paranoid you know."

Lil sat behind her, taking her hand in hers, "I feel ya, Kim. But maybe you should just ask him about how he feels, and let him know how you feel this distance between you recently?"

Kimi shook her head and buried it into her hands helplessly, "I don't want to scare him off by seeming too obsessive."

Lil smiled, "Who is this guy?"

"He's actually really good friends with Phil, they're on the football team together. They've been rooming together since second year. I actually met him through Phil."

Lil winced, she could just imagine how Phil felt about uniting Kimi and her current boyfriend… he's been in love with Kimi for as long as she could remember. One of the main reasons that Phil had chosen to go to George Brown was _because_ Kimi was going there. But Kimi has always been oblivious about his true feelings and Phil's never had the guts to admit it. When they had gone off from high school together, Lil was sure it wouldn't be long before Phil would finally confess or Kimi would finally realize… but it's obvious that's negative. Kimi is head over heels with this new character.

They headed over to the kitchen and Kimi pulled out their takeout pad thai containers and brought it to the couch as Lil grabbed two cans of coke for them, "So I'm guessing I'll be meeting this boyfriend of yours soon then, and then maybe I could get a vibe on his feelings for you." She said as she lifted her feet onto the coffee table ahead of her and leaned back into the sofa working at her pad thai.

Kimi smiled at her hesitantly, "Actually Lil, I was kind of thinking along the same lines…"

Lil froze with the fork half way toward her mouth and lowered it slowly, before turning to Kimi with a raised eyebrow, "Kimi…" She started off in a warning tone.

"Lil, I know trust me, I know, but-…"

"We aren't in middle school anymore." Lil interrupted.

"I thought Michael happened in high school,"

"No, it was the summer of grade eight, right before high school." Lil clarified, before realizing they were getting off track here, "That's beside the point, Kimi that was years ago, we were young and dumb."

"Hey it was effective though, it worked like a charm." Kimi pointed out.

Lil rolled her eyes, "Kim."

"C'mon Lil, I just want to see how he reacts when a new good looking girl kind of makes a play at him. Will he respond like a committed boyfriend, or will he be a douche bag." Kimi insisted.

Lil sat back in annoyance.

Michael was a guy that Kimi was obsessed with in middle school. And when he finally flirted with her after school one day, her trust issues kicked in and she needed reassurance that this guy was for real and not just being a playboy. So to prove this notion she wanted to see how he would react if a girl flirted with him, and of course since she couldn't keep her eyes on her 24/7, she decided it would be more efficient if Lil were the one to throw herself at him to see if he would reject her and his feelings for Kimi were real. And Lil still thought Michael was a dumbass because everyone knew Lil and Kimi were best friends so it made no sense for Lil to flirt with him a few days after he had started showing interest in Kimi, but the idiot fell for it and low and behold, when Lil leaned over to kiss him behind school one day during the summer, he didn't stop her. And the rest as they say was history. Case closed, Kimi canned his ass.

Kimi had almost made that the solution to her trust issues, and even a few incidences later in highschool would be resolved by Lil having to flirt with the guy of interest or throw herself at him at a party to see how he would respond. Guys were dogs, so most often when she threw herself at them they would accept her.

But Lil looked back at those times in embarrassment. That wasn't a normal way of dealing with insecurities for Kimi and perhaps that's why Kimi hadn't had a stable relationship throughout high school. And plus, Lil really came across looking pretty slutty throughout high school, when half of those situations was actually her playing the part of a decoy. But nonetheless it was not a good look.

"Kimi you've grown up since then, there is better ways to deal with your relationship problems." Lil informed, "How did you deal with your trust issues for the last three years while I wasn't here to do your dirty work?"

"I've dealt with a lot of insecurities because I didn't have my trusted formula," she half joked with a wink, "But seriously Lil, some of the happiest relationships I've had were only because I was able to trust them once I could actually see their commitment when they would turn you down."

"Do you realize how messed up that sounds? If any third person was sitting in this room right now they would think you had some serious problems." Lil said in exasperation.

Kimi frowned, "Okay whoa miss new bitchy girl, where is my best friend and what have you done to her? She understood me and wasn't so judgemental."

Lil sighed, she realized that she was coming across pretty bitchy, and this wasn't a side that Kimi was used to. The girl that Kimi knew was very different. She lived in the moment and would do anything for her loved ones –even if it was weird and embarrassing tasks such as Kimi's.

But Kimi doesn't know what Lil has gone through in the last 3 years that they've been apart. Maybe if she did she would understand this new change in personality. But that wasn't something Lil wanted to dig up, and it was better to leave the past where it belongs. There is a reason why she's moved here and that reason is to _move on_.

"I'm sorry Kimi," Lil apologized, "I will only do this ridiculous maneuver one last time if you promise that you will never ask of this again. I'm surprised that this is my _first _night here and you already need me to be a decoy for you again."

Kimi swore –as she always did- that this would be the last time that she would ask of this from Lil.

"So what's the game plan?"

"I want to see how he reacts when you give him attention. He doesn't know about how close we are and wouldn't expect us to tell each other everything."

Lil found it funny that she talked about how close they were as if it was a present thing, they _were _close, they _used to_ tell each other everything… that was three years ago. At this current state, they don't really know much of each other's lives. But they'll always be childhood best friends, and perhaps during the year of living together, they'll regain that connection once again.

Lil nodded, "But won't Phil find it weird that I'm flirting with your man?"

"Don't do it in front of Phil, duh!"

"Speaking of Phil, I should head over to see him soon."

"Perfect, you'll also meet my boyfriend that way and we could see how it goes!"

Lil nodded before yawning and standing up to stretch her body, "I'm beat from this day, I should really get some sleep."

Kimi nodded, standing up as well, "I'm really happy to have you here Lil, I'm glad we'll be roommates this year, I've missed you." She said sincerely.

Lil felt her heart melt as she wrapped her arms around her old friend, "I've missed you too Kimi, and this year will be awesome!"

Kimi nodded as they parted ways, and headed to their respected rooms on the opposite sides of the kitchen.

"Oh and Kimi," Lil said as an afterthought, "Does your boyfriend have a name besides 'boyfriend'"

Kimi laughed.

"His name is Tommy."


	2. Chapter 2

Lil stood in front of the room door, two floors below them; the door that belonged to Phil's apartment. She could hear loud music blasting through the door and she realized her knock was useless. She finally let her hands twist the door knob and wasn't too surprised to find it open, _what the heck, it's my brother's apartment. _

She nudged it forward and stepped into a typical boys apartment. There were dirty clothes on the couch, a sink full of dirty dishes, and a half eaten and open box of pizza on the counter.

From the corner of her eyes spotted a guy standing in a room to the right with his back turned, occupied with his phone. He was unaware of her presence due to the loud music.

She let a sly smile fall across her face as she tip toed closer to her brother's room, and before he could notice her she jumped onto his back and covered his eyes with her hands, "Gotchu!"

She had definitely missed her brother; the long gaps apart had given her independence, but also took away the comfort blanket of security. She never felt alone when she had her brother, because regardless of if they were fighting or not, they always had each other's back one hundred percent. They understood each other, and could read each other so well that it made them uneasy. But it was definitely something she realized the importance of when it was taken away from her, and she had felt the feeling of being emotionally lonely for the first time.

She felt his body stiffen against her, and that's when she realized that the build of this guy was somewhat off. He was taller and a little more muscled then her twin brother. That's when Lil felt her eyes widen, as she unwrapped her legs from his waist and let herself fall back on her feet sheepishly.

He turned around startled, "What the hell?"

And that was when their eyes met for the first time. Her green eyes met his surprised hazel ones, and she realized that this is the boyfriend that also lived here.

_Lil you're such an idiot!_

"Oh god, I'm sorry… I thought it was Phil!"

He took in her appearance and his eyes softened, "You must be the twin sister he's talked about!" He said as he lowered the music.

"How'd you notice?" Lil joked dryly.

"I must say, you're definitely better looking than I expected when I'd try to picture a female version of Phil." He teased, and Lil found an involuntary blush to spread to across her cheeks. _Definitely a charmer._

She wasn't sure why, but it might've had to do something with how good looking this guy was. In front of her was a six foot tall, lean and muscled guy, with beautiful hazel eyes and slight dimples when he smiled. Now she understood why Kimi seemed to be obsessed with this guy!

_Ah whatever, she was here on a 'mission'. _

"I'm glad that he actually spoke about me, but I must admit he definitely failed to mention that he had such a good looking roommate," Lil winked playfully, _two can play at this game. _She smirked when she realized she had caught him off guard with her comment.

She turned to head out of his room and he followed her out with a smile.

"My name is Tommy," He introduced with an extended hand that Lil took.

"Lillian, but everyone calls me Lil."

"Phil and Lil eh," He muttered, amused.

"Lil!" Phil exclaimed surprised as she stepped out of his room across the kitchen.

Lil turned to him with a grin, before rushing forward to throw her arms around her brother. It felt so good to have him near again. "Phil!"

"Hey," he grinned, wrapping his arms protectively around his sister, "Welcome to the city, and most importantly to our campus,"

She laughed, "Thanks for the welcome, but you're going to have to do better than that. I'm expecting like a dinner and tour around this place from you!"

She could feel Tommy's eyes still on her, so she turned to him as well, "You too mister!"

"For sure!"

Phil looked surprised, "Oh, have you two already met?"

She could see a faint blush on Tommy's face, and Lil cleared her throat uncomfortably, "Yeah there was a little misunderstanding there, I accidently intruded into his room and surprised him."

Phil shook his head, "Just like you to make big first impressions eh,"

Lil grinned sheepishly as she sat on the stool beside their counter and Phil pulled out a cold beer for her, "I'll try not to come too into your way with this last minute transfer to your college, twin," She joked , they had started mocking the label of twins that people always placed on them rather than using their names back in middle school, "I know you must be this football player 'Phil DeVille' here, so it'll probably throw a few people for a loop when they realize he has a new twin sister joining the campus."

"People with probably talk about it, but I've made my own name here… so you'll probably be the one who gets screwed with the 'twin' label cause most people will only know you as 'Phil's twin'." He teased, leaning across her on the counter.

Tommy laughed, "It's a small campus, so that stigma won't follow you along too long… you'll make your own friends."

She smiled at him, "Thanks Tommy," before pretending to brush dirt off her shoulder at her twin brother.

….

When Lil had gotten back to her room that day, Kimi was engrossed in a movie on TV but paused it to turn toward Lil, "Hey, how'd it go, their place was probably as gross as always eh,"

Lil nodded crinkling up her nose in exaggeration.

Kimi laughed, "Did you meet Tommy?"

Lil nodded, "Quite the looker you got there," She winked, "Good job girl."

Kimi blushed, "That's why I need to make sure he's being good."

Lil shook her head, "Oh Kimi."

Kimi rolled her eyes, "Okay so today he's seen you, get to know him, be his friend, flirt… I want to see if he knows where the lines are."

_And so Lil did… at the beginning she would head to Phil's apartment and just hang out with the both of them, or whoever else they had over. And then there was a day where Phil wasn't home and she found herself with just Tommy, but by this time they were already friendly enough for it not to be awkward. _

….

"So what are you watching?"

"Sports channel, just catching the highlights of yesterdays Hockey game."

Lil glared at him, "How boring!" She complained, before reaching for the remote on the coffee table, but he was too fast, he quickly grabbed it before she could reach it.

"Don't even think about twin," he teased.

"You're not allowed to use that term!" She said mock threateningly.

"I'm allowed to use whatever I want!" He grinned.

She leaned over to take the remote again, "Fine, then I'm allowed to watch whatever I want!"

He leaned back quickly to keep it out of her reach, as she continued to reach forward and found herself inches away from him. Her hand was on his forearm and her other hand was reaching across his body toward his hand that held the remote. That brought her upper body almost against his and their faces merely inches apart. This was all very innocent until they both noticed how close their faces were and their eyes connected the way they tended to do often.

Lil pulled herself away, as she cleared her throat awkwardly. _It took her a moment to realize she just lost an opportunity to 'test' him for Kimi. _But that moment felt way to genuine for her to react appropriately for her goal.

He sat up as well, and offered her the remote awkwardly, "You can change the channel,"

"No its okay Tommy, you watch the highlights I'll just come back later when Phil's back," she said, trying to make the moment lighter.

….

"Hey Lil, open the door and tell him I'll be ready in five minutes!"

Lil got off the couch and lazily walked over to respond to the knocking at the door, "You're her boyfriend, shouldn't you have a key or something," Lil groaned as she threw it open.

"Yeah you're right actually, I _should _have a key." He agreed as he made his way inside, and plopping down on the couch, "But my girlfriend doesn't think I should have the key yet because she stills feels the need to 'pretty' herself whenever we meet."

Lil looked down at her sweatpants and tank top, no makeup on her face, hair tied in a loose bun and glasses thrown over her face. Before she nudged him off her side and falling back down on the couch, "If he can't handle you at your worst, he doesn't deserve you at your best,"

He smirked, "Just because you look like a hobo 90% of the time doesn't mean everyone should," he teased, causing her to feign insult.

"Just because you look handsome today, doesn't mean you got the right to judge alright."

"Oh, so you think I look handsome today, eh?" he teased.

Lil hid a blush; _he definitely looked ridiculously hot today, wearing a fitted dress shirt with light trimmed facial hair. _But she wasn't one to boost a guy's appearance, "You usually look like a 'hobo' yourself so today you've cleaned up is all,"

"I remember the term handsome being thrown out there," He reminded playfully before Kimi came out ready to go. She was wearing a black dress that fell to her knees and her hair in perfect waves, _she looked beautiful. _

Tommy seemed to agree, he looked at her admiringly before standing to give her a welcoming kiss, "Ready, babe?"

Kimi nodded, smiling ear to ear.

They left for their date, and it gave Lil a nice quiet day with takeout dinner and a movie out of her old favorite collection. Today it appeared to be a _Gone with the Wind_, kind of night. There wasn't really much else she could do, Phil was out at a friend's, and her only other two friends, Kimi and Tommy, were out on a date. And since the official school year was still to start in a few days, she didn't really know any other people in this city yet.

Lil had just woken from a nightmare when she heard ruckus outside her room around 3 am that night. _These nightmares had been reoccurring for a while now, this was definitely nothing new for her. _But the footsteps outside seem heavier than Kimi's and since there was only one pair, it couldn't even be that Tommy was crashing over with Kimi. She slowly tip toed to her door, "Who is it?" She called out, hoping to sound braver than she felt.

"Lil," She heard a male voice whisper, and her heart finally calmed when she realized she recognized it. she threw her door open to find Tommy carrying in Kimi, "Open her room door,"

"What happened to her?" Lil questioned as she cleared the way for Tommy to place her gently in bed.

"We went to a party after dinner, and she kind of had one too many drinks," He whispered, as he lifted the comforter around her.

Lil's heart melted at how sweet his actions were, _there were definitely still good guys like this out there._

When they finally made sure Kimi was asleep and left a glass of water beside her bedside, they stepped out of her room and closed the door behind. She stood in front of Tommy and was confused as to why he couldn't meet her eyes and looked at the ground almost blushing. That's when she realized and her heart froze. She looked down at her outfit, all she had on was short shorts that almost looked like underwear and a mini tank top that didn't cover her whole torso, and had her cleavage out for display. Lil was always one who preferred to sleep with as fewer clothes on as possible. Now she definitely knew why Tommy was having a hard time looking her in the eyes. She thought to grab her robe from her room, but thought it would probably make things even weirder by acknowledging how awkward they were currently.

"Uhm, sorry to wake you Lil," Tommy started hesitantly, "I was hoping to put her to bed and sneak out with disturbing you, but I knocked my foot along the door frame walking in."

Lil shook her head, "I couldn't sleep anyways, so I was glad to have some distraction."

Tommy's face wrinkled in concern –_he looked so darn cute_, "Why couldn't you sleep,"

"I had a bad dream," Lil said before thinking, "No but it's not a big deal, I have them a lot… -I mean…" She realized she was making it sound worse and not better.

"Is that why you sounded scared when we came in… I'm really sorry Lil." He said.

"No, stop don't apologize, I told you I was happy for the distraction."

"I could keep you company until you fall asleep again?" He offered sincerely, and it caused Lil's heart to melt some more.

"No its okay Tommy, you should go and get some sleep as well."

He shook his head, "I'm not sleepy and since I'm the one who scared you I'll make sure you get back to sleep."

"I don't sleep much." Lil whispered, almost more to herself then him. _ She had lost the comforts of sleep a while ago._

"Lucky for you, neither do I."

She shook her head, taking him by the forearm and trying to lead him to the door, "Tommy-…"

But he placed his arms sternly on her bare waist, "Lil, I'm serious." The stern tone of voice and his hands on her bare skin sent chills down her spine that she wasn't expecting.

Lil nodded and he led her to her room and let her climb back into bed –finally able to cover her scantily clad self with the comforter, as he took a seat on the bean bag chair by her bed, "I'll sneak out when you're passed out and take a spare key that Kimi keeps under the couch."

So they sat and talked for over an hour, from topics as variable as hobbies, to their respected families, and childhoods. It really felt like they had connected and she could imagine most of his stories as if she was there herself. She hadn't had such a good conversation for so long now; it really made her respect him more. For a good looking popular jock who was highly desired and at every house party, she never would've imagined this side to someone like him. A real genuine side.

And when she finally drifted off that night, the last thought in her mind was;

_How could Kimi not even trust someone like Tommy?_

Over the next couple of days, Lil was very glad to have found her first real new friend in this new city. Really her first real proper friend she'd found outside of her childhood circle. Every time he would come over to hang out with Kimi, they would usually banter back and forth playfully. And when she would go over to Phil's she would find herself excited to chill with Tommy separate from Kimi. But she knew that wasn't right. It went against the purpose of her role. She was really genuinely starting to like this guy as a real friend. She felt like she could be herself around him, and all of their interactions were very proper and not scripted or manipulative as Kimi was expecting from her.

But she had shied away from her decoy duties long enough, because tonight was the last day of summer house party. The party that Kimi expects Lil to play out the climax of the decoy mission; where Lil is supposed to drunkenly throw herself at Tommy to see how he would react. Kimi thinks that Lil and Tommy's growing friendship is solely based on the intent of testing Tommy and oblivious to genuine friendship that is there. And Lil almost wants to back out of this decoy thing because she doesn't want to ruin what she has with Tommy.

But as Lil is stepping out of Phil's car and looking up at this big house that overlooks the beach, she feels her heart in her throat. She can already see a fire going at the beach where people are already drinking and socializing, and Lil is praying that Tommy and Kimi won't be showing up here. She's not 5 steps in the house when people are already looking at her and Phil with surprised eyes at their resemblance, and whispers of the new girl are already floating around the house. Lil is wearing a red dress that is very flattering to her curves, and her hair straightened and framing her face. She definitely dressed up for this event knowing it was her first impression in the new campus and she wanted to start off with confidence. She also isn't blind to the male attention she's getting, all wondering who the new girl is.

But Lil was used to getting male attention and it didn't bother her much, she could tune it out well now. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to find herself eye to eye with the last pair she was hoping to meet today. Tommy had a huge smile on his face, and she could see his eyes falter down toward her body momentarily before reaching her eyes, and even though other male attention didn't affect her… that falter of his eyes made her feel conscious.

"Hey Lil, I'm glad you made it out to this party!" He said over the music, "Here," He thrust a cup of alcohol in her hand and she thanked him. _She was definitely going to need a lot more of this to go through with this whole thing. _She saw Kimi talking to a few people over his shoulder and nodded toward them. Tommy saw what she was motioning at, and placed his hand at the small of her back leading her toward Kimi and the girls. _There was that tingle in her spine again…_

"Kim, introduce Lil to the girls," He said into her ear.

Kimi smiled at Lil and threw an arm around her, "Guys, this is my childhood best friend!" She gushed, proudly, and Lil smiled at all of them as she introduced them one at a time.

Lil smiled, but she knew she wouldn't remember any of these names anyways. She was more worried about what was to come. When they were finally alone, Kimi gave her a reassuring squeeze of her hand, "Finally we can be done with this and know once and for all eh!"

Lil brought a fake smile to her lips –she was getting used to those, as she downed her fourth shot and was definitely starting to get woozy. Lil usually watched her drinking, but she needed these for what she was about to do. She was heading to the back for fresh air when she felt Tommy's arm around her back, "Hey, you feeling okay?"

She looked up at him startled, "Yeah, I'm good."

"You don't look too good, perhaps you should cut off now," He said, taking a cup out of her hand. She could smell the alcohol on him as well and looked up at him glaring.

"Maybe you should too, mister,"

He laughed as he followed her toward the fire pit and she took off her heels finally, letting her feet sink into the cool sand of the beach. She let them dangle in her hand by her side, her free hand running through her hair.

"It's ridiculous how so many of these guys can't keep their eyes off you." Tommy mentioned, giving a look around in irritation.

She smirked up at him, "And I only care about the eyes of one of them,"

Tommy looked down at her confused, "What do you mean?"

She leaned against him, wrapping her arms around his waist as her body pressed suggestively against his, "I think you know what I'm talking about," she whispered, her eyes meeting his.

"Lil-…" He began.

"Shhh," She whispered, placing a gentle finger against his lips.

His hand enclosed around her wrist, "Lil, stop." He said, looking away from her pouty lips, "What's going on?"

_The final push Lil, one more thing._

She threw her arms around his neck and brought his face closer to hers, she could see his eyes trail down to her lips. She felt shivers run down her whole body with how close they were pressed against each other, how close their lips were. She reached up to close the distance when she felt him push away from her.

"Lil!" He yelled out sternly, "What the fuck?"

Lil knew this was coming, but it didn't stop the feeling of rejection and embarrassment that seeped into her, "Uh…" She started sheepishly, "I'm sorry Tommy." She whispered, biting her lower lip to keep it from trembling.

He stepped forward, his hand reaching out for her, "Lil, what's-…"

But Lil quickly took a step back as if burned, "I'm sorry." She whispered weakly, before turning away from him, and leaving behind a Tommy, with confusion and a tidbit of regret masking his face.

_Lil, you moron! Why do you let yourself get in these situations, what the hell just happened back there. Why is it affecting you so much, this was a fucking job! That's it. She knew what she had signed up for, she knew what was coming… so why is she holding back fucking tears now? _

She bumped into someone on the way back into the kitchen and realized it was Kimi. She put on her poker face again, "He pushed me away Kimi," She reported without emotion.

She saw the relief and happiness fill Kimi's face, before she wrapped her arms around Lil affectionately, "Thank you, thank you! I'm so happy, you are the bestest friend any one could ever ask for. This helps me in ways you don't even know!"

Lil nodded as she watched Kimi walk past her towards her boyfriend.

Lil found herself the first bottle of alcohol she could find and poured herself a big shot and downed it even faster than she had poured it. _There was only one way she knew to deal with the feeling of rejection,_ she grinned seductively at the first guy she saw eyeing her, and let him follow her to the dance floor set up in the huge family room.

By the time Kimi and Tommy had come back into the house, she was already pressed up against the guy, who's name she didn't even know, their bodies were moving to the rhythm of the music, his lips were against her neck and his hands were roaming her body in places she knew she wouldn't allow had she been sober or not feeling rejected.

She could hear cheers erupt in the room for the guy for getting with the '_hot new girl_', and Lil was too drunk to comprehend that this was _not _the first impression she was looking to give. All she could see was the look on Tommy's face as she watched her with this guy.

It would've given her pleasure to see but the room was spinning and now she wasn't sure if she was dancing or he was just holding her against him, and before she knew it, she heard a familiar,

"What the hell!" from Phil as he pushed past people to see what the crowd was cheering at.

And before she knew it she could feel Tommy pull her away from the guy, as Phil shoved him against the wall. And if the room wasn't spinning enough, she felt Tommy grab her and throw her over his shoulder,

"Show's over!" he yelled, as they stormed out with a drowsy Lil hanging over his shoulder.

_Not exactly how she planned for this night to end… _


	3. Chapter 3

Lil felt like someone had smashed a bottle over her head with how bad her head was pounding when she finally opened her eyes. The ray of sunshine attacked her eyes viciously, causing her to let out a groan.

"The princess has awakened."

She tilted her head to her left toward the sound of Kimi's voice, "Shut the blinds!" She begged, covering her face with the blanket.

Kimi laughed, "This is why you don't get so hammered,"

"Rich coming from you, if I recall correctly, your boyfriend had to carry you in a few nights ago." Lil grumbled, sitting up in bed and accepting the mug of coffee that Kimi had brought in for her.

"Hey! If I recall correctly, he also had to carry your ass in last night!"

Lil felt the pang of regret recalling the events of the night before, "I'm not going to lie, I have no idea how I got in bed, don't remember you changing my clothes, and definitely wish I can forget how we left." She groaned, clutching her forehead in pain. _The way she was dancing with that guy that she didn't even know, the way the crowd was cheering… ahh Lil could drown in a pool of embarrassment. _

Kimi sat at the edge of her bed, "Yeah, it was a scene wasn't it. Phil was not happy."

"Shit. I promised to not make a scene. Now everyone must be talking about 'Phil's twin', Phil must hate me right now."

"Didn't help that the guy you were dancing with was Sean, he's on the football team with Phil and Tommy."

Lil slid off the head rest and melted back under her blanket, "Ahhhh…"

Kimi smiled, "Don't worry about it too much, this shit happens; it's college. It'll all blow over soon."

Lil groaned, flipping onto her stomach and digging her arms under her pillow… she needed to go back to sleep land where she didn't have an angry brother to face.

Passing out again bought her a few hours, but she couldn't avoid the inevitable. She found herself walking up to a familiar room, and knocking on it sheepishly. Of course there wasn't an answer, and of course the door was unlocked as always, so Lil made her way into the apartment. She found Phil eating a bowl of cereal at the counter, and he looked up when she entered. He raised an eyebrow, but went back to his bowl of frosted flakes.

Lil sighed, "Anything but silent treatment, _please_!" She slumped onto the stool across the counter where he was standing, "I messed up, I made a scene and it shouldn't have happened."

Lucky for her, Phil wasn't someone who had the will power of giving a silent treatment, because that required him to hold his tongue, "Lil I'm not here to be your father, you can do as you please. But when you transferred to this college, you were entering a world that had previously been _just_ mine. And I love having you here, it's like a piece of home and having my other half with me when I'm away, but it _really _bugs me of the impression that people might be conjuring up about you right now, and unfortunately that falls back on me since you're the 'twin'. And I want to break people's jaws that are probably talking shit right now about last night… and side note… I don't think any brother can stomach having to see his sister grinding up on some guy… especially a teammate, and I know how those guys operate."

Okay, so Lil wasn't expecting such a straight up speech, she knew they'd have these sometime during the year because when she's drunk she does tend to do stupid things, but not this soon into the year –the day _before _school even begins!

Lil nodded, "I know, Phil. I really emphasize with this whole coming in on your territory thing, because I know I would've found it weird if you had transferred to my college and to my separate world like this, and even though I love being here with you, there are definitely downsides for you such as last night. I will try to be more considerate of that, and I am really sorry that last night, and my first introduction to the campus, ended up being such a scene. Trust me… no one's more embarrassed than I am. But that's why I came to say sorry to you today."

Phil nodded with a slight smirk, "Yeah kind of a scene wasn't it?"

"Tad bit," Lil mocked, with a slight smile.

"But apology accepted, all is well, peace has been made." He joked, as he put his bowl in the overflowing sink and grabbed his textbook, "That is, only if you wash the dishes as a peace offering," He added quickly with a smirk.

Lil laughed shaking her head, "Wow, so you resort to blackmail eh, this is what the world has come to." She made her way around the counter to the sink, giving him a nudge with her hip.

"Sick! Alright I'm heading out for my first class, I'll see you later!" he said, as he made his way toward the door.

"Okay, I will leave the door safely unlocked behind me when I leave," She called behind him, shaking her head.

She worked at the pile, and was drying the pots with a towel when Tommy entered the apartment. _Dang! _ Lil knew his class with Kimi was supposed to be at least 3 hours, which is why she had strategically chosen that time frame to come meet Phil for the apology. But she hadn't accounted for the fact that today was the first day of college and hence all the classes would be more of an introductory and be shorter than usual. It had only been two hours, Lil had safely left an hour margin of when she'd be out of their apartment before Tommy could come back, to avoid this awkward moment right here.

"Hey." Tommy said, monotone. It was such a half ass acknowledgement, he was never like that.

Lil could feel her face redden in embarrassment, "Sorry if I startled you, I was just going to put these pots back in their cupboards and be out of here soon."

Tommy nodded, as he stepped towards her across the counter. Lil quickly turned around and busied herself with putting the dry plates away, but she couldn't reach the top shelf. She was struggling to tilt the plates onto the stack when she felt Tommy come up behind her and take the plates out of her hand, and put them easily on the top shelf for her. She mumbled a 'thanks', and tried to get around him but he stopped her with a firm hand on the counter beside her, cornering her in, "Lil,"

_Shit, shit, shit!_

Lil looked anywhere but at his eyes, her face eye to eye with his chest, "Listen Tommy, I'm sorry about last night, I know I shouldn't of gotten so drunk and Kimi told me you had to carry me out… but honestly last night is such a blur to me, I'm just really embarrassed that I must've made one heck of a bad first impression, and I'm sorry that I made a scene for you three as well."

Tommy was confused for a second, "You don't remember what happened last night?"

_Of course she remembered, but to avoid wanting to die of shame she had to put up this front to keep some dignity and for any hopes of salvaging their friendship._

"I remember coming there, and I remember drinking… and then after that it's really fuzzy and I don't remember much of the end of the party, or how I got home. But today's pounding hangover was a nice reminder of the amount I must've drank. _Whoops_." She covered, trying to lighten the mood.

He took a step back and his hand left the counter so she quickly took the opportunity to get out of the corner he had her in, and grabbed a wipe to clean off the counter.

"Oh."

"Why was it worse than Kimi and Phil have already clued me in to?" She asked, faking a chuckle, "It couldn't have been."

"Why were you dancing with Sean?" Tommy asked, and she could see his muscles tense up from the side of her eyes.

Lil shrugged, "I don't know, I didn't even know his name was Sean." She admitted sheepishly, "Hopefully he was single and I don't have an angry girlfriend after me," She teased.

Tommy didn't laugh, and even though Tommy didn't seem too convinced about her lack of memory, he let it go. And Lil could almost feel the relief wash over, when she was able to make her getaway completely clear of any consequences of last night.

_Maybe things will be fine after all, they could get over the events of last night as just a drunken mishap –which Lil apparently doesn't remember and hence can't be something Lil will need to be ashamed about._

….

It had been a couple of days, classes had started and thankfully college was nothing like high school and she didn't have to worry about hallway full of gossipers. It was like nothing had happened, she saw a few people whisper to each other when she walked into smaller classrooms, but overall it was fine. The only change was her interactions with Tommy, she completely avoided being alone with him so that the awkward elephant in the room type deal wouldn't happen again.

Kimi, Tommy, Phil and Lil were sitting around their family room. They had called the guys over for a movie and dinner night, knowing that they lived off fast food usually. It was a nice change to actually make dinner at home, and so Kimi and Lil had headed to the grocery store earlier that day to prepare. Lil had made Alfredo fettuccini with sautéed veggies, while Kimi had seasoned some uncooked chicken breast and put it in the oven. The only deal was that since Lil and Kimi cooked the meal, they got to choose the movie. When the romantic comedy ended, Phil and Tommy sighed in relief.

"That was the dumbest movie ever," Phil complained.

"These movies are always the same, two people meet, and you know they're going to end up together but you have to waste an hour and a half of your life to watch how it happens in the corniest way possible." Tommy agreed, standing up to stretch.

"As appose to your action movies right?" Kimi countered with a raised brow.

"You know who the main guy is, he's going to kill all the bad guys in one shot each, yet throughout the two hours you will see 100 bullets fly his way that he will somehow always escape and you know he's going to live, but you waste two hours of your life watching how he somehow escapes all the dangerous shit they do… how realistic." Lil agreed.

Phil rolled his eyes, "At least there is actual real dangerous stuff happening, in your movies the biggest drama is that two girls are fighting over one guy."

Kimi laughed as she playfully shoved Phil, "Whatever, you guys got homemade dinner for this, so you shouldn't be complaining."

Phil grinned, as he grabbed her in a joking headlock on the couch, "And we best get many more!"

They laughed as they playfully wrestled each other's arms away, and Lil inwardly felt a pang of pain for her brother. Even though Phil is doing his fair share of dating throughout college, she knows his heart will always belong to his childhood crush. And it must suck to have to have one of your closest friends dating her.

Tommy nudged her out of her thoughts, "What are you thinking about?" He teased.

Lil smiled, "Nothing at all," as she grabbed the plates off the coffee table and headed toward the sink. He followed her with the empty cups.

"How's your first week coming along?"

"It's been good, I think I'm getting the hang of this place finally," She said making small talk, but avoiding his eyes.

"Lil, I really think we need to eventually talk about what happened that night," He finally said, "You've been avoiding me since."

Lil felt her heart freeze up on her.

"Why so serious?" Phil teased as he and Kimi turned toward them from their spot on the couch.

Lil cracked a smile toward them, "Important decisions on who has dishwashing duty!" She could feel Tommy's eyes on her, but refused to acknowledge him, "And I think, since me and Kim cooked the meal, you two get to wash up after us!"

"I agree!" Kimi grinned.

Phil groaned, "That was not a part of the deal."

"It is now!" Kimi teased, as she walked over to Lil, "C'mon Lil, let's get some sleep and let the guys deal with the mess."

Lil was very grateful for the escape, but a part of her knew she was just delaying the inevitable conversation.

….

Lil was pulling on her heels as she heard her phone ring for the third time; she huffed in annoyance before grabbing it "we're coming!" She exclaimed.

"Was that Phil again?" Kimi asked, as she fixed her hair in the mirror.

Lil nodded before standing beside her as they checked themselves out for the last time, Kimi was wearing a white tank top with a black high skirt that reached to her mid thigh, and Lil was wearing a tight little black dress. The shortness of the dress and her high heels definitely made her legs look endless. Her hair was half up, and her wrist carried a simple charm bracelet.

They finally grabbed their phones and headed downstairs to the car, where Phil and Tommy were impatiently awaiting, "Took you girls long enough!" Phil glared, but Lil noticed his eyes graze over Kimi in hidden appreciation.

"Beauty takes time," Kimi teased, as they slid into the back seat and Kimi leaned over to peck Tommy on the lips.

Lil felt herself redden as she remembered herself lean forward to kiss him at the last day of summer party. And remembering how that night ended made her want to sink further in her seat.

When they got into the club, they all headed toward the bar and after taking a shot together they separated. Phil headed toward a group of hot girls he saw, and Kimi had pulled Tommy and Lil to join her on the dance floor but Lil was able to pull away and let the couple dance together as she headed back toward the bar. She took a seat and was about to ask for a drink when she heard a voice speak before her, "Can I get you a drink?"

She turned to find Sean taking a seat at the stool beside her, and she could feel the embarrassment rise up again inside her. She was about to reject but he quickly threw his arms up in the air, "I'm not trying any funny business, I know I got kind of carried away at the party that day but we were both drunk, and you're hot," Lil laughed at his defense, "Let me buy you a drink as my apology,"

Lil wasn't sure what he had to apologize for since she was the one to use him to get over the feeling of rejection, but she felt bad since she did use him and then he got shoved by her brother at the end of the night. She agreed to let him buy her a drink, and he grinned, "Two shots of tequila please," he ordered.

They took a shot together, and Lil tried to deflect his flirtatious attempts, but when she realized this guy wasn't going to quit she excused herself and got up to leave when she felt his hand encircle her arm, "Where you going? Let's dance?"

_Oh god. _"No thanks," Lil shook her head politely, and tried to pull her arm away but his hold tightened around her as he stood up as well,

"Why not?" He questioned, "It's not like I'm asking you to sleep with me, it's just dancing…"

Lil's face squinted in disgust, "Let go of me,"

When he tried to protest she noticed Tommy approach them from out of nowhere, and step in front of her, "Sean, I think it's clear she doesn't want to dance with you." He said, as he grabbed Sean's arm and took it off of Lil's.

"Tommy man, this is the second time you're trying to cock-block me here dude," He said with a half smirk.

Tommy's eyes narrowed, "Take the hint bro, she's not interested."

"Maybe she can tell me that herself," Sean said, as he tried to walk around him, but Tommy stopped him with a hand against his chest, holding him back.

"Back off Sean,"

"Yo what the fuck, why don't you go take care of your own girlfriend. Move out of my way." Sean said annoyed, pushing his arm off him.

Tommy shoved him, "I said, _back off._"

A few people had turned to stare, and security approached them, "What's the problem here, guys?"

"No problem," Tommy answered his eyes still on Sean.

"Well, regardless I'm going to have to ask you guys to leave."

_Great, kicked out. _Lil turned to find Phil and Kimi while they were being lead out of the club but all she saw was a mash of different bodies on the dance floor. _Fuck _

"I'll just text them that we got kicked out and heading back to our building," Tommy said as they stepped out.

Lil sighed, "Tommy, I can handle myself, there was no need for you to get involved."

She could feel Tommy's glare harden, "So next time some guy is trying to force himself on you, I should just look the other way then?" He questioned.

Lil was taken aback by his harsh tone of voice, and decided not to argue for the taxi ride home. The whole ride went by in uncomfortable silence and she could tell that Tommy was still angry. When they got to their building, she mumbled a goodbye as they went their separate ways to their own floors. Lil took out the clip, letting her hair fall open and threw her phone on the couch in agitation. She paced back and forth for a bit trying to calm the feeling of anxiety, but soon found herself storming back out and down to Tommy's floor. She let herself in without second thought, "Tommy!" She called out.

He stepped out of his room as she barged in, and she froze momentarily when she realized he was shirtless. _Oh jeez, look at that body. He was tall, slender and muscled. _He caught her off track momentarily, but she soon remembered why she was there in the first place, _focus Lil!_

"I remember what happened that night." She finally admitted, feeling a huge burden off her chest finally.

He raised a brow at her, as he approached her and sat on the armrest of the couch beside her. _ She really wished he would've put a shirt on for this conversation, it was hard enough avoiding his eyes, but now it was hard to look at his chest as well… definitely making this conversation harder then it needed to be._

"I lied because I was embarrassed and I didn't want it to affect our friendship, which I clearly failed to do." She huffed, her hand motion sweeping between them, "We can barely talk to each other now, and before I felt like I could talk to you the most."

"From what I know of you Lil, you aren't the type of girl to drunkenly make a pass at your friend's boyfriend, so what was that?"

_This was the hard part. How can she be honest without throwing Kimi under the bus?_

"It was a test." She blurted out, "I wanted to test you loyalty to Kimi by seeing how you would react when I would throw myself at you whilst we were both drunk." _she was even a little bit tipsy now having this conversation. _

"_What?_" Tommy said incredulously, "A fucking _test?_ What the hell is that supposed to mean."

"It means… you passed. I trust you to take care of my friend now, because you aren't the type to make drunken mistakes." She said with a shrug. _Maybe she should've been completely sober to have this conversation properly and not make it come across so cold. _

"Oh wow, thank you for your approval," He spat, "Wait… did Kimi know about this?"

"No," Lil covered quickly, but it seemed like he knew otherwise. _ Was her facial expression too revealing?_

"Wow. That's fucked up."

"This doesn't change anything," Lil insisted, "I tested you, you passed. That's it. It's done. I just want to go back to how things were last week, before all this craziness that came after the party. I miss our friendship."

"_What friendship?_ It was all based on a lie… you were _testing _me." He said spitefully, and she could see his muscles tense in his upper body.

Lil's eyes widened in surprise, "But Tommy, our friendship was not fake; that was not an-…"

"Why should I believe anything you say? I don't trust anything you say from now on. Clearly I'm just an idiot who has been thinking about what the hell happened that night and why it happened and trying to talk to you… but it was all an _act_. And then you had the audacity to pretend like you didn't remember shit."

_This was getting out of hand. _And as of recent, confrontation made Lil very uneasy.

"Listen Tommy, neither of us is sober right now and saying things in the heat of the moment. It was my mistake coming down here like this, and I was an idiot for thinking this would fix the awkwardness but I'm clearly just making it worse. We'll talk about this some other time…" She rambled.

"Oh so you want to run away and avoid me again eh?"

Lil shook her hand, as she began to walk past him toward the front door, "No Tommy, I just-…"

But before she could she could get to the door, she felt his hand encircle her arm and he pulled her toward him so she was standing between his knees where he sat on the arm rest.

"Tommy," she started, with her hands against his bare chest, she could feel the hard muscle underneath her touch.

She felt his arm wrap around her waist, and the other hand grabbed the back of her head as he leaned up to hover close to her lips with his… she felt her breath get caught in her throat and her heart thump wildly against her chest. Shivers ran down her spine as his lips pressed against hers roughly and he crushed her against him. Her hands were against his chest, trying to push him off her, but he tightened his hold on her and his hand tangled into her hair and the other was placed firmly at the back of her naked thigh, her dress rising up.

She felt knees weaken and her hands slowly stopped trying to push him away and with a life of their own traveled up his muscled body and wrapped around his neck. Her head was telling her to pull away and slap him for forcing himself on her like this, but her body was betraying her and she found herself responding to his lips eagerly with her own.

His hold loosened around her and she pulled back to catch her breath and looked at him in shock, taking a step back, "Tommy… what the hell was that?" she asked, his chest still heaving up and down breathless.

He stood up from his spot, his lips against her ears and she felt a shiver again, "_That _was a test." He whispered, before walking toward his room and turning back to look at her from his doorway, "…And you failed."

With that, he closed his door behind, leaving her standing in her spot in the middle of the apartment…


	4. Chapter 4

"Lil, what happened, how did you guys get kicked out?" Kimi questioned, as she flipped the light on in Lil's room. Lil was flipped on her stomach on the bed, with the blanket thrown over her head, _there was no way she could look at Kimi… the guilt would be highly evident on her face._

"Misunderstandings," Lil mumbled, refusing to take the blanket off her head.

"About what? We were barely there for half an hour before you two got kicked out," Kimi questioned, taking a seat at the edge of Lil's bed.

Lil could feel pain in the pit of her stomach, "Ran into Sean, I think he thought we could continue the events of that horrid party, and the security just happened to come across when Tommy was telling him I wasn't interested…" _just saying his name made a blush of shame fall on her hidden face._

Lil was never that friend; she hated girls who were that type of friend that would betray their friends for a guy. She thought of being pressed against a shirtless Tommy earlier as he had aggressively devoured her mouth, and she wanted to sink into a dark pit and never come out. She was not the one to initiate that kiss, but _boy_, if that was not one of the most heated and passionate kisses of her life. She's never felt like her whole body was made out of jelly like that. _But it was so wrong. _He's Kimi's boyfriend –even though she's not sure how long that will last after tonight's revelation.

That just made the pit in her stomach churn in pain; she's never felt guilt like this before.

"Oh, bad move Sean," She said with a shake of her head, "He's lucky Phil wasn't around for that."

Lil mumbled incoherently under the blanket, and Kimi took that as her cue to leave, she was already feeling light headed from the alcohol and needed her bed. She switched off Lil's light, "Goodnight Lil,"

"Night,"

Lil finally lifted the blanket off her face and sat up, _what the hell happened tonight?! How did they go from a friendly night out to such a mess? She thought her life was a mess last night, but all she had to deal with then was ignoring Tommy and pretending like she didn't remember trying to kiss him… but now… she had to deal with the kiss they actually shared, what it meant for any hope of their friendship (which seemed pretty doomed now), as well the repercussions their fight and his revelation would have on his relationship with Kimi. Lil didn't want her move to this school to end Kimi's relationship and to ruin things between her and Kimi. _

_It was supposed to be so simple, as it always had been in high school… she was the decoy and she tested them for Kimi. How did this get so complicated? _

And why did the memory of their kiss bring butterflies to her stomach… butterflies that she wanted to stomp the life out of.

It wasn't until next morning when Lil was finishing her cereal at the counter that she had to deal with the repercussion of some of last night's events. Kimi stormed out of her room,

"Lil, how does Tommy know about the decoy thing?!" She questioned with her face completely pale.

Lil froze midway with the spoon half way up to her mouth, "What did he say?"

"I called him this morning to catch up about last night, and he just seemed really pissed off." Kimi said, her eyes tearing up –which completely broke Lil's heart into shreds, "And then he just went off about how I never trusted him, and how I knew you were going to test his loyalty, and he can't be with someone who would do that!"

Lil approached her, "Kimi, can you please sit down, you need to breathe!" She said, noticing that Kimi was freaking out.

She let Lil lead her to the couch, "What the hell happened last night?" Kimi demanded, as Lil took a seat beside her.

Lil tried to calm her own racing heart, "Kim… I slipped up." She began hesitantly, "He's been really confused about why I had tried to kiss him that night being you're best friend, and he wouldn't let it go… and I just… I told him I had done it to test him, but I swear I didn't mention a word about you knowing… he just somehow knew."

_And your boyfriend kissed me. _

The last part was omitted for obvious reasons.

She could see the pained look on Kimi's face, and Lil took her hand in her own, "I'm so sorry, please know that I did not think it would end up like this, I honestly had believed it would've helped things not hurt them, and I never wanted you to be thrown under the bus like this."

Kimi nodded, "I believe you, Lil. I know you would never screw me over."

Lil flashbacked to her body being pressed against Tommy's bare chest, his hand firmly on her naked thigh, and his lips roughly devouring hers…

Lil felt her eyes lower in shame, and her hold loosed on Kimi's hand, "I'm so sorry Kim."

"It's not your fault Lil, the reason he knew that I would've known about what you were doing is because he knows I've been overly paranoid and had trust issues… and he tried convince me to trust him and give the relationship a true chance but I just couldn't do it," She cried, now covering her face into her hands. She curled her legs onto the sofa and let Lil put her arm around her as she cried against Lil's chest.

Lil brushed her hand against Kimi's hair soothingly, as she felt her own eyes sting with unshed tears.

_She was just supposed to be the decoy… now she's ruined their relationship. _

She knew it wasn't her fault that Tommy kissed her, but the fact that it made her feel the way it did… that was wrong, and that made Lil feel like the worst friend in the world. Kimi was crying against her, and to some degree, Lil felt like she was at fault.

A part of her wanted to storm down to Tommy's room and demand that he apologize to Kimi, but the other part of her was too scared to see him.

It had been two weeks since Tommy and Kimi had broken up, and Kimi had taken their breakup pretty rough. She hadn't attended any of her classes the first week to avoid having to see Tommy, and when Lil had finally convinced Kimi to go to her classes, she dreaded the 3 hour class she had with Tommy.

"Please Lil, just sit in the lecture with me! I can't go by myself and sit there alone with him in that class. Especially since he has been ignoring my calls, it will just feel really awkward being there."

Lil shook her head, "Kimi, maybe you can take this opportunity to talk to him in person,"

Kimi shook her head, "He was so cold to me that day when I went to their apartment, I don't want to be embarrassed in front of people. We only have one common friend in that class, and he's closer to Tommy, so I'll have to sit alone."

Lil sighed, as they got up from the cafeteria and dumped their trays, _she herself didn't want to see Tommy, so how could she convince Kimi to deal with it alone. _ Lil hadn't spoken to him since that night, and since they didn't have any classes together she didn't have to worry about running into him at school. Even at their apartment building, Lil avoided the main elevator where she would likely run into him and always took a detour. She had barely even seen Phil in the last two weeks besides the day they went to grab breakfast together on the weekend.

Phil had clued her in that Tommy was pretty pissed off about the whole stunt, and felt really disrespected that Kimi would go behind his back to test his loyalty.

When they walked into lecture she spotted Tommy pretty fast sitting in the back left of the lecture hall, so she lead Kimi to the right side and away from where he was sitting. As they walked up the hall she could feel his eyes on her, but she avoided letting her eyes fall in that direction.

When they had taken their seat, Lil felt her phone buzz against her side and pulled it out to find a text from Tommy;

_She needed the decoy again eh. _

Lil rolled her eyes and threw the phone into her bag, before putting in her headphones to have music occupy the rest of her time.

The rest of the class went by uneventful and when they had finally gotten to their apartment, Lil had to convince Kimi to not spend another night sulking in bed and to actually go out and enjoy the start of the weekend.

"I really don't want to," Kimi complained.

Lil groaned, "You are not spending another night curled onto the couch, eating take out, and watching Friends reruns… while moping about being dumped. Who cares, if he really loved you he would've given you a chance to explain yourself but he didn't, so screw him, and we're going to go out and get shit-face drunk and forget that you're sad… and instead maybe be happy for the night!"

Lil knew Kimi was happiest and most carefree when she had a few drinks and was just dancing, so the perfect place to take her would be the club a few blocks down and just let her enjoy herself.

Kimi moaned and sunk into the couch.

"C'mon, Phil said he'll come with us too!" Lil added, knowing that Phil could always make Kimi laugh.

Kimi reluctantly agreed, and an hour later Lil has wearing a high skirt with a tank top, her hair falling in soft waves, while Kimi was wearing a tight white dress that showed off her figure beautifully.

Phil met them at the club, and the three of them took two rounds of shots together before hitting the dance floor. It reminded Lil of old times, where the three of them would party together in high school. They were like the three musketeers back in those days, and Lil hadn't realized how much she missed this in the last three years of undergrad. Lil saw the way Phil would purposely do things to make Kimi laugh –and it had been two weeks since Lil had seen her laugh like that, Lil knew she had made the right decision in bringing her here.

Phil, knowing that Kimi was in the dumps, stayed with them on the dance floor, and when Kimi had gone to the bathroom Lil asked Phil if Tommy would be here. And to Lil's dismay, Phil nodded before motioning to the other side of the dance floor, where Lil saw Tommy dancing with a few girls that Lil recognized from the house party they had gone to. She rolled her eyes, and turned back to Phil, and he knew from her look that she was motioning that Kimi should not see him. So when Kimi returned they kept her away from his area, and had some more drinks.

"Thanks for bringing me here," Kimi said in her ear as they finished their drinks by the bar, and Lil nodded with a reassuring smile, before Phil grabbed Kimi's hand and led her to the floor again. Kimi was an awesome dancer, and Lil watched in amusement as Kimi owned the dance floor with Phil. She knew that Phil would always have a soft spot for Kimi, and she really respected him for spending the night to help make Kimi feel better, rather than finding girls to hook up with.

Just watching them have so much fun together, she really hoped one day Kimi would see how much Phil actually cared for her.

Lil was about to join them, but when she stepped forward she felt herself bump into a hard chest. She looked up startled, and her eyes fell into all too familiar ones. She felt her heart stop, as their eyes connected. Lil tried to side step past him, but he took a step to block her passage. He placed his hands on both sides of the counter to lock her into place, before leaning into her so his lips were pressed against her ear, "Don't you have decoy duties or something," He whispered coldly.

Lil felt the colour drain from her face, and tried to push him back but he didn't budge, "You're such an asshole," Lil heard herself say, "Instead of being a man and giving Kimi the courtesy of a proper respectful end to the relationship, you broke up with her over the phone. How middle school is that?" She challenged, trying to appear more composed then she was feeling.

He tilted his head toward where Kimi and Phil were dancing, playfully doing twirls and silly moves, "I don't see her crying herself to sleep over it, so what's it to you?" he said, with a raised brow.

"Why, does it bother you to see her dancing with someone else? If I recall you were pretty cozy with some girls just now as well," Lil said, crossing her arms across her waist.

Tommy smirked, "Oh, so you were watching me."

Lil felt herself redden, "No-…" She began sheepishly.

"Question is, does it bother _you_ to see me with other girls?" he whispered, his eyes trailing to her lips.

Lil felt her mouth go dry, and refrained from licking her lips. There was something different with this Tommy then the one she had been friends with, his eyes aren't filled with warmth and comfort, instead they seem cold. _But that didn't stop him from being hot. _

But it was quite evident that he was pretty wasted, just from the way his eyes were glazed over and the strong smell of alcohol from his mouth.

She looked past his shoulder to the oblivious Phil and Kimi, dancing amongst the crowd. She tried to move his arm again, but to no avail, "Why would I care? As long as you don't hurt Kimi, I don't care what –or _who_, you do." She said coldly.

He chuckled, "Lies, you definitely cared that night when I kissed you," he smirked, "Or do you not remember that as well?"

She glared at him, pushing his chest to put some room between them, "Shut up Tommy,"

"Does Kimi know about that?" He questioned, moving back but not removing his hands from the counter to her sides, "Does Kimi know about the way you had moaned against my lips? The way you had wrapped your arms around my neck?"

Lil's eyes widened in horror and this time she placed more force against his arm and managed to break free from where he had her trapped against the counter, "Fuck off, Tommy," She spat as she made her way past him.

But he grabbed her arm, "Where you going? Do you have another guy to throw yourself on to _test _them, is that your thing Lil, drunkenly throwing yourself at people like a sl-…" Before he could finish she had raised her hand to slap him, but before her hand could connect against his cheek he had grabbed her hand and twisted her arm behind her back, so that her chest was pushed up against his, their faces inches apart.

"Stop while you're ahead, babe." He whispered hoarsely into her ear, before letting her go and allowing her to stumble backwards.

Lil backed away from him, fighting a bunch of emotions within her… one of which was to wipe that smirk off his face.

But Lil knew that she had hurt him, that he felt that their whole relationship had been a lie. And that fact hurt Lil even more, because she knew he had let her in, he had let her see a softer side to him, one that he clearly didn't display out for everyone. And he had genuinely been affected by Lil trying to kiss him, and he had cared for her hurt feelings and then finding out that it had been a pre-planned test, really made him feel like a fool.

And now he was purposely trying to hurt her with his words. _And it was working._

She didn't know why this stranger named Tommy affected her so much, she didn't even know he existed two months ago… and now he made her question her loyalty to her childhood best friend. _How the hell was that possible._ What the hell was this weird thing between her and Tommy anyways, two weeks ago she knew that she didn't want to lose their friendship… but friends don't have random steamy kisses and all these weird feelings.

Tommy was so wasted that he didn't even care that Phil and Kimi were in sight of them… it didn't bother him about what they would've thought had they caught glimpse of their encounter at the bar. She needed to talk to him, she needed to make him understand her so that he stops this cold demeanor.


	5. Chapter 5

"Lil, do you think Tommy is dating Tara?" Kimi asked, as Lil straightened her hair in front of the mirror.

"Which ones Tara?" Lil asked, pausing to glance back towards the stool that Kimi was drinking her coffee on.

"The hot blond one,"

Lil felt herself scowl, "What makes you think that?"

"She posted a few pictures up with Tommy on Facebook at some Halloween party last night, and honestly they're both hot and single, there is no way they wouldn't hook up. The way she acted around him even when we were dating used to really piss me off."

Lil continued straightening her hair and felt her jaw clench as Kimi logged into Facebook in her phone to show Lil. _Typical,_ Lil thought spitefully, "Using Halloween as an excuse to be a slut." She commented dryly. Tara was wearing a push-up bra, jean booty shorts… and a cowboy hat. I'm guessing the cowboy hat is intended to display that she's 'dressing up' as a cowgirl. _Sigh. _

Kimi nodded, "Honestly, so trashy… and look at the way she's pushing up next to Tommy." She pointed out bitterly.

Lil finally let her eyes fall on the grinning Tommy, who looked incredibly hot as a fireman… _of course. _He was shirtless, so his muscled biceps and chest were gleaming out in display.

"I was dating that," Kimi sighed in disbelief, "…and then I blew it."

Lil closed the picture from Kimi's phone, "He blew it, he should've helped you work through your insecurities not canned you like he did. He doesn't deserve you, Kim." Lil reassured as she threw her arm over Kimi's shoulders and smiled at her.

When Lil turned back to the mirror to continue with her hair, she felt a pang in her chest.

_Tommy was always hot, she had noticed that the first day she met him when she had accidently jumped on his back… but she only saw him as Kimi's boyfriend and her growing friend. She still valued the friendship they had shared, but a new longing had started to take place ever since that party when she had tried to kiss him. But even then it still had been a confusing time where she still had mistaken the longing for just their friendship, so the real fire ignited in his apartment that day… when he had kissed her. And now… these mixed feelings she had for Tommy were really starting to mess with her head. _

When Lil had moved here, she was desperately escaping her other life. Her life had been messy enough; she didn't need or want any more mess here. She came here simply to be with her friend and her brother.

"How long is your class?" Kimi asked.

"I'll be back by 8:30, and I'll pick us up some dinner on the way back." Lil called out as she grabbed her bag and headed out the door. Lil stopped on Phil's floor and knocked on his door, no longer comfortable with barging in with Tommy living there. To Lil's surprise the door was opened by Miss Tara herself.

"Hey… uh…twin, come on in." She greeted with a fake smile, and an underlying tone of bitchiness. Lil rolled her eyes, as she walked past her. Tommy was lying on the couch with football on, while Phil was sitting on a stool by the counter with his laptop open. Tara went back to take her seat on the arm of the sofa_… the same place where Tommy was sitting when…_ Lil could feel herself redden, and quickly diverted her eyes to focus directly toward Phil and didn't bother acknowledging Tommy.

"Hey Phil," she greeted as she dropped her bag by the counter.

"Lil," he nodded with a smile.

"I was wondering if _you_ wanted to come have dinner at our place tonight, we were thinking of grabbing pizza and wings, and we have a few beers in the fridge." She asked, and she could see his eyes look toward Tommy, who was pretty obviously excluded from this invite.

Phil shook his head chuckling, "The UFC match is on tonight and I know you two won't watch it, so either before or after that I'll drop by."

Lil nodded, internally rolling her eyes when she heard Tara giggle at something Tommy must've said. _Such a ditsy laugh, _Lil couldn't stand to hear her. The way she's trying to swoop in and take Tommy right after his break up with Kimi… it was disgusting. _Lil wouldn't lie to herself, that wasn't the only reason she couldn't stand Tara. _

"Anyways, I just wanted to let you know that mom called and they want us to come home next weekend because grandma is coming to visit."

Phil groaned in response, causing Lil to slap his arm playfully.

"So why are you giving him the silent treatment?" Phil questioned, motioning at Tommy.

Lil kept her back turned toward Tommy, "I'm not, why is that girl here?" she asked quietly.

"Dunno, she was here when I got back from class,"

_Class! _

"Oh shit, I'm getting late to class! I should head out; maybe I'll see you tonight!" She called before turning around, ignoring the two on the couches and heading out the doorway.

Lil felt her heart race in annoyance, as she stepped into the elevator. _Funny how fast he moves on and can't seem to breathe without Tara nearby. She never would've expected Tommy to just… to… after what happened between them? How could he just… _

_Ugh, _Lil couldn't think like that, as if he betrayed her. Because he didn't, _but why was it bothering her so much to see him with Tara. _

Before the elevator would've shut, she saw a hand stop the door, and when it opened it revealed a Tommy Pickles stepping in. Lil's eyes widened and she took a step back in surprise, "What the-…"

"That kind of hurt my feelings back there," He stated, as he leaned against the side wall as the elevator door closed again, "Acting like I didn't even exist."

Lil's eyes narrowed, "You seemed _preoccupied,_"

She saw a smirk creep up on his lips, "You are so hot when you're jealous."

"Please. There is nothing to be jealous over."

Tommy placed a hand against his heart, "There is that dagger again,"

"Whatever," Lil said, as she stepped forward waiting for the elevator to land on the ground floor.

She noticed from the corner of her eyes as Tommy fiddled with the buttons, but she didn't want to give him any attention so ignored it until she felt the elevator come to an abrupt stop suddenly with a jerk. Lil felt herself stumble back a step and looked at Tommy in shock, "What the hell did you just do?!"

"Just wanted to talk to you without you running away," He said simply.

"Oh my god, what's wrong with you," She cried, as she pushed him aside before hitting the '_help_' button a few times to no avail.

"This is a pretty old building, they aren't as high tech with this sort of stuff, so from past experience I know it'll take them about 45 minutes to maybe an hour to get the elevator working again, and until then… you're stuck with me." He said with a grin.

Lil knew it was useless but banged on the elevator doors regardless, _she could take being stuck in an elevator, but Tommy is the last person she wanted to be stuck in this cramped area with. _

"Lil, we both know there's no point of that." He sighed, as he took a seat on the ground, "Might as well get comfortable."

She stood where she was, and glared at him, _what kind of asshole does that? He is so selfish, she has class that started 5 minutes ago… and now she's stuck in this stupid elevator because he decides he needs to talk._

Lil pulled out her phone, "I'm calling Phil-…" she began angrily, until she came to the stark realization that there was no reception in the elevator, "…Fuck."

"Lil," He began, causing her to look down at him in annoyance, "About that night at the club…" He finally began; his eyes softened a tad, "I shouldn't have said what I did. Regardless of what you did and how much it pissed me off, I was out of line, and I'm sorry."

Lil could tell that it was difficult for him to apologize since he was still angry at her, and she really respected him for that.

"Tommy, I know you're really angry at me, and I know you lashed out in anger and that isn't who you are. But I appreciate the apology, but I also want to say sorry for making you feel the way I did, for making you feel like our friendship was all fake." She began, leaning against the opposite wall, "I really value the friendship we had, I never expected to feel so comfortable with someone so fast and it made me really sad to do what I had to do. Regardless of how everything went down, please know that none of that was an act on my part."

Tommy nodded, "It was a really messed up thing to do, but in a way I'm grateful for it."

Lil's forehead curled up in confusion, "Grateful?"

"Because it would've been really messed up for me to want to kiss my girlfriend's best friend, otherwise." He said, standing up.

"Tommy-…"

"No seriously, if you hadn't of tried to kiss me that night, I probably never would've allowed myself to think of you as anything beyond this really beautiful girl I met, that was also my girlfriends friend."

Lil could feel shivers run down her spine, "Don't say that," She whispered, _please. _

He stepped closer to her, and his hands slowly fell upon her waist, "Lil you can't deny there is chemistry between us,"

Lil placed her hands on his hands and half heartedly tried to push them off her, "Tommy, you're Kimi's ex boyfriend," She began, "She's still heartbroken over the break up."

He didn't budge, and instead stepped closer to her, trapping her against the elevator wall, "She doesn't need to know,"

Lil shook her head, "That isn't right, what kind of friend do you think I am," She questioned, _she needed to get out of this damned elevator!_

"One with needs; one that cant keep herself away from me any longer… that wants me as much as I want her." His hand traveled up along her body to brush away the hair from her face before cupping it in his.

Lil tried not to get trapped in his eyes, and pushed at his chest, "Tommy, please…"

"Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't want this. No one needs to know, not Kimi, not Phil, no one."

Lil's eyes hardened, "Yeah, and what about Tara?"

Tommy chuckled, "What _about_ Tara? She just doesn't know how to take a hint, and thinks that following me around and laughing at everything I say is going to make me want her. There is only one girl I want, and I've wanted her from the second I saw her," He whispered in her ear, as his hand pulled her closer against him.

"Tommy, I can't be that girl…"

"Lil don't over think this, let's not think of what's right or wrong, let's just live in the moment and satisfy this pull we have between us," He whispered in her ear, "I want you so bad, when you're in the same room as me, I long to push you against a wall and do a lot of unmentionable things to you,"

Lil felt tingles in her body, as his hand ran up her side to just beneath her breast, "Tommy," She whispered, her breath getting caught in her throat.

"Don't think of anyone else, this won't affect anyone else. Let's let this happen on its own,"

"Tommy, we can't _be _anything."

"But we can help satisfy each other's needs," He said, licking his lips, "No strings attached. Maybe this will help us rid of the sexual tension between us,"

_There are so many different reasons why this is wrong. He was Kimi's boyfriend, Kimi is heartbroken over him, he's Phil's roommate, and Lil can't deal with a relationship at this point of her life._

_But Lil also couldn't deny this overpowering desire every time he looks at her, every time he touches her. It wasn't normal._

He caught her ear lobe between his lips and it caused Lil's knees to turn to jelly, and she resisted a moan, "Tommy, no one could ever know." She said, "_Promise_ me."

"I won't tell if you won't." He promised, his eyes glazed over in desire, "Please Lil, give into this," He whispered, his lips brushing against hers.

Lil felt all reason leave her as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his eager lips on hers, as he grabbed the back of her thighs and effortlessly lifted her to wrap her legs around his waist and pushed against her aggressively. His tongue brushed against her lips begging for entrance and soon enough their mouths wrestled against each others, eager to get closer than they already were, pulling at each other's bodies roughly.

Tommy had Lil pushed up against the elevator wall, as he hungrily devoured her mouth, his hands slipping under her shirt and tugging at the back of her bra. Walking out of Phil's apartment today, she never would've expected that in less than half an hour later they would be in a stuck elevator with her pushed up against the wall with him. His hands roaming all over her body, and making her want him even more. Nor did she think after that intense encounter at the bar, that their next encounter would end up like this. Why couldn't they stay away from each other anymore?!

She groaned, pulling his hands away and letting her hands run down his strong biceps and tightening her legs around his waist in desire as he attacked her neck causing her to moan out his name, "Tommy," She breathed out.

She heard a little growl of desire in response, hearing her moan his name caused him to want to rip her clothes off her perfect body.

They felt the elevator jerk suddenly, and Tommy tightened his hold on her to keep her in place. Before letting her back to her feet and she quickly fixed her top and hair as the elevator began to slowly descend again. She regained control over her breathing before Tommy leaned into her ear one last time, "I'll sneak into your place after midnight." He whispered hoarsely, before pulling away as the elevator finally opened to concerned faces.

Tommy stepped out, and Lil followed slowly behind.

Her heart racing, from fear and guilt of this new venture she's started… as well as excitement.


End file.
